S.C. Aquarium celebrates banner year of the penguin

Thanks to record-setting attendance at the S.C. Aquarium this year, the waterfront attraction plans to pay off its remaining debt by a January deadline and, even sooner, to hire two new employees to work with its animals.

The aquarium's chief executive, Kevin Mills, called 2009, the year of the penguin, "a remarkably good year." Attendance exceeded projections by 6 percent for the first six months.

Nearly 22,000 more locals and 3,000 more tourists visited the aquarium than during the same time in 2008. New memberships also grew by more than 30 percent.

Penguin Planet, an exhibit featuring male warm-weather birds, opened in March. The aquarium experienced record numbers for February and April and the strongest May and June in five years.

Unemployment line

South Carolina's jobless rate for June was virtually unchanged from May at 12.1 percent, the state Employment Security Commission said. The agency also said the May rate had been slightly revised and lowered to 12 percent.

For the Charleston metro area, the jobless rate jumped to 10.2 percent from 9.4 percent in May. More than 33,000 local residents were seeking work last month, the commission said.

The statewide job count fell by 7,100 in June, with government accounting for 5,600 of those losses as state and local schools closed for the summer recess.

Material event

St. George-based Global Recovery LLC, a recycling firm that collects waste from more than 100 industrial businesses across the Southeast, plans to increase the volume of materials it handles. The expansion is projected create about 15 jobs, company officials announced.

Global Recovery said it will move into a larger warehouse in Harleyville.

Cleared out

All three of Charleston fashion designer Mary Norton's stores have closed.

The flagship Mary Norton shop at 318 King St. shut its doors after a clearance sale that slashed prices up to 90 percent on the designer's pricey signature handbags and shoes.

Earlier this month, the company closed stores in Los Angeles and in New York City, just off Fifth Avenue. Norton blamed "harsh economic circumstances" for the closings.

Bank statement

The Bank of South Carolina said its second-quarter profit rose 2 percent to $687,461 compared to the same period a year ago, even though it had to pay a $114,000 special assessment to shore up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s finances. For the first six months of the year, the Charleston-based bank reported earnings edged up about 1 percent to $1.46 million.